Ireland is no tax haven and US senators who made such claims are engaging in “theatrics”, a Government minister said today.

Communications Minister Pat Rabbitte dismissed the claims made at the Apple hearings in Washington last week.

He said: “The Irish Government is not responsible for theatrics in the American Senate.

“The fact is Irish corporate tax rates are statute based.”

Mr Rabbitte again stressed that the Government does not do tax deals with corporations.

He added: “We do not enter into any deals with the corporates, be they American or otherwise here.

“If there are monies channeled through Ireland that is a function that is allowed by the American tax system.

“Profits in Ireland are taxed at the 12.5% rate. The 12.5% stands, there are no deals done.”

Minister Rabbitte also said that the Finance Minister Michael Noonan is looking at a system used by multinationals called the “double Irish” but he again stressed it is not Ireland’s fault that companies avoid tax.

He told RTE’s The Week in Politics: “That is not the fault of the tax authorities in Ireland or the legislators in Ireland.

“If transnational companies engage in financial engineering in order to avoid tax as distinct from avoiding tax that is not a matter that is within the power of the Irish Government to change.”

Meanwhile, Minister Rabbitte said there had been too much time spent on the controversy surrounding the Justice Minister’s use of garda confidential information on Deputy Mick Wallace.

He described it as a “bottle of smoke” but he agreed that Alan Shatter did not use the information properly.

He said: “No I don’t think it was but the incident itself couldn’t have been more trivial and the minister has apologised for his lapse.

“This is a completely trivial controversy, it’s a bottle of smoke.

He added that the country is in the middle of an economic crisis and said it was now time to move on.

He added: “I mean we’re five years into the worst economic crisis that has ever afflicted this country since independence and we’ve spent ten days on an entirely superficial and trivial issue where even the newspapers today admit that they can’t dig up anything else on the Minister for Justice, Alan Shatter.

“Who is a particularly effective, reforming and hard working minister. He apologised for his lapse on the programme and really what else can be said?”